Domino
by Hedevary Beilschmidt Edelstein
Summary: Is love really that easy?
1. Prologue: In the Beginning

**_Domino_**

_Prologue_

* * *

_In the Beginning_

My life was fine before. Having a stable job in a stable country. It was in the early wee hours of dawn when I left my house. Travelling by foot towards to my workplace, the scenery was cool and fresh, peaceful for my liking. As I sat on my desk, loads of work are thrown on me. Ami was there, my assistant, helping me out throughout the day. We often speak of her life and as much close as co-workers. When the clock at the far corner of the wall strikes four, I already left for home.

Near winter, cloudy day. The cold freezes some other people, the thick, _fashionable_ clothes are in trend. Most of the people look silly on their neon outfit and overly make-up. They look as if they were celebrating halloween in an extended version for the year. Some creatures are so easily to be swayed by fashion to the exaggeration point of looking either overstuffed or understaff. I just saw women in bikinis jogging in the slippery side of the road covered in thick ice, flirting on men in cars passing by, causing traffic and accidents for the seventh time of the day.

**My name is Serena by the way.**

The sky's so clear despite of the cold. I sometimes think of penguins and polar bears when I'm alone. But being with Amy calms me. Today's the day. She introduced me to his boyfriend, Zachary. He is a fine young man with an oddly long hair tied in a single ponytail. It reminds me of the medieval era in poets.

But he was a casual man, a man whom Amy got her eyes set on.

"Se, what do you think suits me? This chiffon dress or this red coat?" Zach bugged me from my room, scattering clothes as he tried on each one in front of the mirror. He was too preoccupied that he didn't caught me sneaking towards his front and flicked his forehead with my finger hard. He stammered backwards and lost his footing, causing him to fall on the carpeted floor.

"What did you do that for?!" he rubbed his sore forehead, and glared at me.

"It should be _'what do you think suits for Ami?' _you dimwit!" I leaned forward and grabbed him by his collar. "It is proper for a lover to woo his lover. And that is my clothes by the way. Go buy one on your own! Geez, barging in my room without my permission.." I pick up the scattered clothes and neatly arranged them in my clothes as he got up from the floor.

"You still haven't changed." He flashed a smile before he turned to leave, locking the door before closing. "Don't sound so ancient!" I shouted at his retreating back as I imagined him waving his hand on air after the sound of the closing door.

Little did Amy knew this part of him.


	2. I: Retrace - Encounter

**_Domino_**

_I_

* * *

_Retrace- Encounter_

**.**

**.**

** .**

He was running. Out from the being that chases after him. He was tired, hungry and sore. The moon from above was hidden by a dark cloud. The glowing eyes of the phantom. Sharp teeth, long beak, saliva dripped down acidly into the ground, melting the sprouting grasses. He was about to take form. He wanted to fight.

But he was too weak to do it.

Panting, he darted to the nearest light that flickered on his way. He stumbled upon a rock by his foot. The phantom was getting closer. He couldn't move. The darkness was blocking his view. His eyes was heavy. He was about to prepare to die. There was no hope.

In a swirl of moment, a flash swept by his vision. Cunning and bold, in a swift blur out from the darkness, he heard the clashing and tearing. The phantom screamed in pain before it became silent. Then he heard a loud sickening thud, blood splutter on his face, staining his ebony hair.

The moon stirred from above. The clouds descends away. He saw the fallen body of the phantom. His vision was getting blurry, he felt weaker by the minute. The sound of shoes on gravel. A silhouette staring at him. He saw its own mouth open as if it was about to say something. But he hear no more, he let the darkness swept him away.

**. . . . . .**

The soothing feeling of floating through the nothingness. Like swimming in with the cool waves of the sea. He felt no pain, he felt nothing at all. He just stayed and wait, and wait. But something was stirring inside of him. He couldn't explain.

A splash of heat and cold woke him up.

He jolted as he adjusted his vision. A woman was beside him, older than he was. Golden blonde hair, she wore a plain sundress. But the woman eyes drowned him. Those clear blue orbs that reflects like a pair of mirrors. But it was gentle and soothing.

"Are you hungry?" she spoke. He recognized the voice. Though his mind is hazy, he could remember a bit of the silhouette's hushed voice. He looked deeply at her.

"It's you." He declared. The woman grinned discreetly, but then her tone changed to a teasing one.

"What _you_?" she answered.

"The person who saved me- who killed that phantom. There's no doubt about it. It is you!" he countered back and the woman's lips curved into a knowing smile.

"What about it?"

"What did you used against that phantom? My kind who defended me was killed by it. Nobody could kill it, so why you?!" he countered back. His knuckles are getting white from clutching it too tightly.

"My, what a bugger. Eat kid. Replenish your energy. Sleep all day. Be well," the woman stood from her seat and pushed the table with a tray of food resting on top of it, near him. He slammed the table in anger, he was desperate for the answer.

"Answer me!" he roared.

"Quiet!" he was silenced by the woman. "Brat, not all answers are found by mere interrogating. The more answers you hear, the more questions will be formulated as well," she adjusted his pillow, and placed the tray on his abdomen.

"Gain your energy. Be strong for the next days. What's lost will never returned. Do not waste," she helped him eat by setting the spoon on a bowl of soup and gagged his mouth forcibly with a single bread.

A minute after the ordeal, the woman began to wipe his body clean with a wet cloth. Though embarrassed by the situation, he could not do anything to stop her. She was persistent. She changed his clothes, combed his hair and trimmed his long fingernails. When she was done, he stared at her.

Blue meets blue.

"Sa-saphir. Age ten. How about you?" he asked as a cold breeze entered the room, swaying his ebony locks.

Setting aside the trays, she spoke to him, "I am called Serena, and kid, you shouldn't ask a lady about her age."

"And about that weapon used.." he croaked. She leaned closer to him. "It- is- a- s-e- c-r- et ..." her lips read as she put a finger in between her mouth.

Closing the window, she left him to rest.

**. **

**.**

** .**

Saphir was leaning against the balcony. He sensed a figure near him.

"Zach's still here yet?" he asked as the figure revealed Serena in jeans. He took a glance at her then stared back at the huge trees on a dark soiled ground. She followed his stare and chuckled. "No, he left. I could not let him stay any longer."

There was a moment of peace. Both of them were silent, yet the silence reached a deep understanding to them than words will. They welcome the cool, soothing wind.

"Still reminiscing?" Serena broke the silence.

"Yeah, it changed. My life changed. That encounter rooted it all," Saphir closed his eyes for a moment before fluttering it open. "I could not forget. Under that soiled ground is where the phantom was buried. And upon that monster's corpse, life grew, two seedlings sprouted and both became trees. Trees with red bark. Just like the numerous blood spilled by that monstrous phantom," Saphir's eyes sparked in anger, his blood boiled at the thought of it.

"Since when did I became so poetic?" He muttered weakly. Serena sighed.

"Saphir, you shouldn't let that anger into you. Don't let it swallow you alive. For it will morph you into something more monstrous and dangerous than that phantom was," she reminded him, and Saphir tried to relax a little.

"_Arbutus menziesii_. When those trees mature, their red bark will naturally peel into thin sheets, leaving a satin sheen and smooth appearance. Just like that tree, someday your suffering will give way to the true you. And just by being yourself and learning everyday, you'll retain happiness and contentment. But I just hope that someday wouldn't be too late."

* * *

Zach's thoughts were preoccuppied. Amy was babbling about something related to surgery. While munching his salad, he noticed a bubbly blonde clutching the arms of a muscular man with platinum hair. Zach choked on his food. Standing, he excused himself politely to Amy and hid in a far corner of the restaurant, stalking after the two other blondes.

He reached on his pockets and pulled his cellphone. He dialed a number, wrote a short text and captured a photo of those two blondes. He then sent it to Serena.

_'Mina, what are you doing with him?'_ Zach thought as his cellphone rang. Amy was calling him. He answered.

"Hello?"

"Zach, are you okay? Are you still in the rest room? Are you sick?" Amy bombarded him with various of questions.

He chuckled. She was worried about him.

"Hush, I'm fine." His tone was gentle yet persuasive.

His answer meant to Amy. She understood it too quickly. Something's up. Gulping down her suspicion and pride, she answered shakily, "I-i'll go home by my own. So then, wish you luck. I-if there is something that you troubles you, please tell me, Zach."

The line ended as Zach hid his cellphone in his pockets. Then the muscular man tilted over his side. Their eyes met.

Zach's orbs widened as he recognized the person before him. He cast a suspicious look- an ominous glare towards him. The woman was still clutching him, happily chatted, completely unaware of the situation. Zach gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles. Then a silver glint flashed, reflecting the dazzling light of the sun.

His bronze skin, the mark in the silver glint.

The puzzles in the back of his consciousness suddenly became connected. He was using Mina. For something, for someone- ... but it couldn't be? No it cannot be. Whatever it is, Zach's mind clouded.

Out of a sudden, from the corner of his eye, he remembered the heat. He remembered the urge. The flames mirrored his jumbled thoughts. His fear, his weakness, it swallowed him again. Shadows dance around him. The warm, stench liquid that painted the ground, his clothes and his flesh. He couldn't move. He couldn't scream. He lay frozen under the covers. Waiting and crouching.

Fearing and doubting.

Sitting and watching.

Tears fill out his glasses. No expression came his face. The screams died out. But the flames became hotter and more dazzling. It burns his eyes. It dries out his tears. He was surrounded. Holding his knees too tightly, afraid to loose control. What have he done? Where did it go wrong?

He was caught under. He was drowned it the sea of fire. It smothered him. The smoke, the drowning sorrow that bubbled up in his chest. No time to think. No chance to go back. No strength to move forward.

_'She is an idiot'_ his thoughts whispered silently. There are more than enough words for him to scream more loudly than a siren but not enough will to let it all out. Silence remained him.

Everything is falling apart right under his feet.

_'Zach.'_

_'Zach..'_

_'Zachary..!'_

This voice called upon him. It jolted him awake from his nightmare.

_'Serena?'_ he called back silently, waiting eagerly for its response. Like a child crying for its mother.

_'Zach.'_ His name rang like the chiming bell whenever called by her.

_'I felt you slipped away for a second there..'_ her voice quiver with concern and love.

He was silent for a minute. Then he heard her call again.

_'Zach, I received the email. Of all people why her? How did the hell he seduced her?!'_

Zach wanted to reach out and calm her, but knowing Serena, it wouldn't take no matter how many people to calm her raging anger. It will calm on its own. Boy, no matter how much he adores her and her prefound long temper and calming nature, she is after all, an independent woman. She could learn on her own and knows every consequences she'll face in every little decision she'd make. And that is why he adores her lavishly.

_'There's no doubt about it. It is him.'_ It was the answer he was waiting to hear not too long ago. Their thoughts are after all by means, connected. Both arrived at the same conclusion.

The ruthless blood, Anami general, Kunzite the bloody killer.

This time, Mina is caught in between an angle of the world she was never aware of.. and probably she will never be. The other creatures living secretly in the form of similar to mortals. Among all lovers she could find, why was she pulled in with a dangerous one that she is never capable of handling-

_'Hold it Zach. There is a certain possibility she can tame as dangerous as this one.'_

_'Oh please. We both knew that possibility you're talking to is evenly less than .0001 percent.'_ Though wary, Zach snickered in response of her statement.

_'But no matter how small the possibility is, the fact that it is still there, so is the certain unusual things that could happen as much as we expect it to be. Remember your secret? You've been hiding it since, even it was too obvious for you to show it to the world.'_ Serena countered back.

Zach gulped. Bringing it up doesn't help much-

_'Shut it. Things never goes the way you thought it would be, my dear.'_

_'Hey! You just said it before. Don't pry that much!'_ he screamed on his telepathy.

_'Your thoughts are too strong for me to hear. You know how your emotions control the best of you-'_

_'-As if you, yourself isn't like that.'_ Zach cut her off. He heard her sigh.

_'Be careful. Don't be caught spying on them. Especially him. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.'_

_'I am not a fly..'_ Zach mumbled incoherently.

_'And you will never be. It is just a speech, relax. I'm blocking this off. I still have to continue the meeting with Amy about the current medicine. We just had a coffee break, even though I'm drinking cocoa right now.'_

Zach gulped. He knew there was something more she have to say.

_'I'm glad you knew. I'm grateful that you gave me this information. We'll talk later about how you left Amy worry over you, who just disappeared in their date without her permission. You really have the guts bra-'_

_'JA- NI!'_ he cut the link off. He really wanted to avoid the best of her scolding. He'll just save it for later.

Turning his attention to the blonde couple who was now sitting by the bench, his hands sweat. His body was tense and sweaty. He was glad Serena did not look over on his thoughts before she called him on their link. He is in pinch. His gut weighted the feeling of dread.

The Anami knew that he was spying.

* * *

An hour had passed by. The Anami had escorted Mina to the bus station and bid her safety. Then he strolled on until he was deep in the autumn forest. It was about dusk, the sky was getting darker by the minute. The moon became more visible in the clouds. The winds carry the dried leaves and twigs as the bronze man tucked in his hands to his coat and glared at the pitch darkness before him.

His eyes glowed pale blue. His posture became rigid and tense.

His teeth sharpened as he speak. "What business do you have, spy?"

Zach stayed frozen on his tracks. He was behind the bushes of a vine, high up in tree. Various nests of birds surrounds him. It was one of his advantages. The smell of poop from the birds in branches and urine from different animals from below the tree, by the roots, covers his scent from the Anami.

But this advantage he had was temporary. So he need a back- up plan.

He cited the words of an ancient rite. Then he was dressed with a long, velvet cloak. His face was covered with the hood, showing only the half part of his face horizontally.

The winds didn't help him so. For his scent, even a very faint one, was carried towards the dangerous Anami.

"So there you are." The Anami's lips curved into a pleased one. He was ready to kill.

Zach instinctively reached out his gadget. It wielded into a sharp, metal whip.

_'Come, bloodsucking vampire.' _He taunted on him on his thoughts as he erase his dread feeling and his cold fear. He needed to stand up and fight. Not just stand nor sit and do nothing. He is Zach. He will never be the person he was back then. He would not let it happen again like before. Gathering up his courage, he breathe in to relax his panicking mind.

He felt Kunzite moved swiftly towards his direction, by the rippling of the winds. Zach clenched his whip and swung it across him. Blood dripped from the tree. Kunzite was clunching his severed, bleeding arm. Zach glared at him.

"I do not know as of your plan, but refrain from using a mortal as a toy. Especially the ones who is oblivious of your true form, well known _Anami._" Zach spat out, as Kunzite laughed maniacally.

"What makes you think of that? All mortals are a fool." Kunzite replied with the joys of malice.

Zach's glare darkened with hatred. Kunzite felt the distorted pain from his arm. He stared confused at his whip and of his fury. Who is this man and why is he spying on him?

"Oi, oi.. my life does not matter to you. What I do is my business. From what clan are you? From what rank? If you want power then- ... ugh!" He winced in pain as he felt his wound sting, like of a sudden, there is an invisible fire burning off his arm. The bleeding became more severe as the seconds passed by.

"What have you done? What's in that weapon?!" Kunzite muttered and gritted in pain.

Zach held unto his sharpened whip and licked it. "This matter does not concern you." He said cooly. "But if you will continue your twisted pleasure of collecting mortals like a toy, then so will I give upon you my best, improvised tool of madness, in rival for your disgusting galore." He whipped him again, but this time on his other arm.

"You are well aware of this. Swear to me vampire." Zach continued.

Kunzite's brows frowned and his face twisted in a scorn. "I am not a vampire! I am an Anami of the highest class!" he argued and struggled as Zach's whip circled on his body and tightened like a snake gripping on its prey.

"Whatever you call your self, an Anami is still a vampire. Unless you are a half breed with the blood of a wolf or a siren." Zach's monotone voice became deadly serious. "Swear. Are you letting yourself die?" he pressured him.

Kunzite's bone cracked and blood run down from his eyes and mouth. "I swear! I swear upon my name!" he uttered out in vain. Zach was pleased by his forced reply.

"Good. Breaking your oath results to your punishment. And I'm not the only one who will claim upon your sweet torture. You will soon love to take..." Zach trailed as the whip's circling on Kunzite became loose.

"-Oh well, so take your time, Bloody Killer socialite." Zach continued as he licked his own lips.

His whip disappeared as he saluted happily on the injured Anami. Then Zach went off, as he teleported back to the apartment, where he was currently staying in. His hooded cloak disappeared as he muttered back an ancient rite.

He then removed his tie and cast away his coat on the floor. Then he threw himself on his soft, bouncy bed, as he noticed the huge trees grew a little taller outside, through his glass window.

Its red bark rooted from the dark soiled ground he despises as much as the Anami he encountered.

He had to do it. He wanted Serena to be happy. He knows how much Mina affects her so, despite of not knowing Serena at all. Zach felt so helpless as it was back then, as far as he remembered the great flames that surrounded and trapped him.

He felt suffocated, he felt pity for his own weakness.

Like a child, he only sat and listen. Couldn't move his cold feet that touched the ground. He felt numb.

But she was there. Serena's always there. Her slender hands that held him tightly, those hands that saved him from the sea of sorrows that drown him. Her gentle, loving aura radiating for him to know that he is not alone, that no one could be alone. For that, he was overwhelmed with happiness and contentment for himself. Serena always had a way to bring such things to creatures who needed it so much.

But he knew that Serena, herself suffered the most. More than that he could ever imagine.

A flash of image crossed his mind. Both he and Serena was running freely in the fields, under the warmth of the late afternoon's sunshine. With the overwhelming scent of crops, flowers, and the ripened fruits from trees. Among them, was another two blurred, blonde figures that laughed and joined them. Then there's another two who's watching silently, glad that they were having fun. Then there is Saphir.. and Amy.

It was the family he long for, he craved for. And he could only do that with Serena by his side.

No blood will be poured out from his family. Not any longer, he will make sure of that.

* * *

A golden, orange glow cascades down the purple sea. Shimmering, sparkling bits of reflection from the setting sun mirrored in the scarlet colored sherry inside of a ceramic flagon. Porcelain plates and silver utensils, a large buffet, an extravagant meal, surrounded by the beautiful mother nature, a raven head calmly sips her tea.

A jet black haired man knocks his wine glass on the floor.

"What is this? There is a stain on the utensils," said a woman with midnight blue orbs, in an emerald dress.

A red headed maid from a corner twitched and glared at the raven haired. The raven haired ignored her.

"What a dull dinner. Mind if I excuse myself?" she cooly replied as she swiftly moved away from the dinner table, not waiting for an answer.

"Stubborn as always," another jet black haired man, but a little lighter than the other one, replied as he watched the fading back of his own daughter.

The other jet black haired man stood and excuse himself, walking away to the opposite route of his sister's. But before he could left, his mother, the woman with midnight blue orbs warned,

"Darien, both you and Rei still have hope." She said as Darien sped off and jumped from the balcony to the other tree, cunningly. Both of the two parents sighed. The woman faced her husband.

"They never change. Do they really have enough will to find their true love?" she said with vast worry and concern for her own children. Her husband rubbed her back and pulled her closer, glaring at the maids and butlers, commanding them to silently leave both of them alone. When they are out of sight, the husband kissed his wife and looked at her eyes so lovingly.

"It's alright. They will. It is them after all, surely they will meet their other half. Their own soulmates for them to love for eternity.. Just like us." The woman calmed and leaned on his chest.

"I love you Darius," she whispered.

"I love you too wife," he replied as the moon rose up in the darken sky, casting a soft beam on a struggling jet black haired man from the deep forest, who took his frustration on his hunt for the night.

A wolf's cry echoed with the squeak of the bats and the sounds of other nocturnal creatures, under the full moon's light. A long blonde hair woman, Serena, sat across her balcony, gazing at the beautiful darkness and the soft glowing moon up in the night sky, as she scribbled down sketches, a portrait for her past time hour.

For some reason, she could not erase the feeling of longing, but she whispered it silently with the night breeze, similar to a man just fifteen meters away from where she stood.

* * *

_"All creatures desired for something they do not have."_

**.**

**.**

**.**


End file.
